The credit expires at the end of the year. It was salvaged in a last-minute deal on the fiscal cliff early this year.

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“I don’t think it looks too good at the moment,” said James Clift, policy director of the Michigan Environmental Council.

Clift noted that 2012 was a banner year for development of wind energy, but the uncertainty of the credit has interfered with production.

“It costs billions,” retorted Leon Drolet, director of the Michigan Taxpayers Alliance of the subsidy. It unfairly benefits an industry, not consumers, he said.

But the PTC merely levels the playing field with the coal industry, where many of the incentives are baked long-term into the tax code, particularly as subsidies for the petroleum industry, whose energy is used to transport the coal, for instance.

Quite simply, any suggestion that the coal industry is not subsidized by government, and otherwise favored, is ludicrous.

Meanwhile, a just-released study from the Institute for Energy Research excoriates the wind subsidy, saying the ultimate payers are all Americans who pay federal taxes.

The IER study said that despite the Midwest region being a net recipient of federal wind subsidies, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin are net payers. Each of these states also has renewable portfolio standards that require electric utilities to generate a certain percentage of their electricity from renewable sources, the study pointed out.

Given that these states do not produce much wind but are still required to add renewables like wind to their generation mix, these states are most likely buying wind from states whose wind producers are net takers of federal wind subsidies, the study said.

The top 10 production tax credit-taking states in 2012 received over 72 percent of the total PTC subsidy transfers for 2012. These top 10 states include Texas, Iowa, California, and North Dakota among the biggest wind takers, the IER study said.

Taxpayers in 30 states and the District of Columbia paid more to the federal government in 2012 to support wind subsidies than wind producers in those states received. Of those 30 net losing states, 11 states and the District of Columbia had no wind production and received zero subsidies but still paid their share of the tax burden related to federal wind subsidies.

“Although we discuss states and regions as ‘net takers’ and ‘net payers,’ we note that the ultimate takers are actually the owners of wind facilities — a very concentrated group,” said a statement accompanying release of the IER study.

It should be pointed out that IER received a good deal of its funding from the Koch Brothers, owners of Koch Industries, which Wikipedia calls the second largest privately owned company in the United States. The Kochs have been identified as major supporters of the Tea Party movement in the U.S.

Plus, the utility industry, in Michigan as elsewhere, competes in an environment that is largely regulated in its favor by state government.

Perhaps Drolet is correct when he said the goal ought to be “the most customer-friendly market possible.” But the energy industry does not operate as a free market.

Maybe the wind industry no longer needs government subsidies, but the public ought to view this debate with eyes wide open. Wind is both a clean and — increasingly — a cheap energy source.

An earlier version of this column included information from a Washington Examiner report. Although the Examiner was clearly credited as the source, the publication objected to the use of the information and felt it should have been paraphrased. Our intention was not to slight the Examiner’s contribution and we regret any inappropriate attribution. Glenn Gilbert is executive editor of The Oakland Press. Contact him at glenn.gilbert@oakpress.com or 248-745-4587. Follow him on Twitter @glenngilbert2. View his blog at glenngilbert2.blogspot.com